Long Beach State University
5-7
Saint Mary's
9-2
49ers fall to Gaels at Wooden Classic
12/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2010
Anaheim, Calif. - All five starters scored in double digits for Long Beach State, but a second-half comeback by Saint Mary's gave the Gaels an 82-74 win over the 49ers on Saturday in the first game of the John R. Wooden Classic at the Honda Center.
"I think it was the best we have played overall both offensively and defensively," head coach Dan Monson said. "We have to move on and continue to get better."
T.J. Robinson led LBSU (5-7) with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. Robinson narrowly missed a double-double with nine boards. Eugene Phelps finished with 17 points, Tristan Wilson had 14 and Greg Plater had 12. Casper Ware almost had a double-double as well after finishing with 10 points and eight assists.
Mitchell Young led Saint Mary's (9-2) with 28 points, while Mickey McConnell added 18.
As a team the 49ers shot 52.7 percent from the floor on 29-of-55 shooting. In the first half, LBSU shot 57.1 percent after connecting on 16-of-28 shots.
"We played well enough in stretches to win this game, but we just had to be more consistent," Monson said. "We had 13 turnovers for the game, but I think two or three of them came with the game on the line."
Phelps started off a 13-8 run to open the second half for LBSU. Shortly after that, Ware helped get Long Beach State back on the board when he made a steal, ran the court and dished it to Plater for the score.
After two SMC (9-2) baskets by Mathew Dellavedova and Young, Robinson put Long Beach State on top 50-45 after knocking down a jumper and sinking a free throw to complete a three-point play.
Coming out of the second media timeout of the half, Plater found Phelps to give Long Beach State a 56-49 lead.
The Gaels went on a 16-8 run after that to take their first lead of the day at 65-64 with six minutes to go in the game. SMC stretched its lead to four almost three minutes later, but Robinson knocked down two free throws to get LBSU back to within two at 72-70.
"Saint Mary's is a great team and we kind of slipped up at the end, and they hit the shots they needed," Robinson said.
A flagrant foul call on Wilson with 44 seconds left put the Gaels on the foul line and gave them back the ball. Dellavedova made both attempts to stretch SMC's lead to 76-70.
A late layup by Robinson with time running out put the final score at 82-74 and finished off the scoring for both squads.
Long Beach State jumped out to an early 10-2 lead over the Gaels by the first media timeout thanks to hot shooting and solid defense. Phelps got the first basket of the game for the 49ers, then Plater connected from downtown to give LBSU a quick 5-0 lead. Robinson sank one from beyond the arc to put The Beach up by eight, then Wilson made it a 10-0 game.
Saint Mary's sophomore forward Young finally got the Gaels on the scoreboard 3:19 into the first half. That kicked off a 16-8 run for SMC capped off by a game tying 3-pointer by Gaels forward Clint Steindl.
Buckets by Phelps and Robinson put Long Beach State back up 22-18, but Steindl knocked down another 3-point basket to cut the lead to one. A Wilson 3-pointer started a 19-14 Long Beach State run to close out the first half. During the run, Plater found Robinson for an easy layup, then Robinson hit from the top of the key to give LBSU a 34-27 lead with 3:56 left to go in the half.
Dellavedova got Saint Mary's back to within four with a 3-point bucket, but baskets by Phelps and Plater put the lead back at eight points. Plater connected from beyond the arc for his second 3-point bucket of the game to close out the first half scoring for the 49ers, and a buzzer-beating layup by SMC's McConnell got the Gaels back to within four to make the score 41-37 heading into the beak.
The 49ers get back into action when they travel to Tempe, Ariz. to take on Arizona State on December 21.
